With the present brochure prepared within the scope of the EU project “From Overconsumption to Solidarity”, we wish to take a critical look at development of the REDD+ instrument and to present the alternative approaches of indigenous peoples dwelling in Amazonia.

In the first part of this brochure, we provide an overview of the relationship between forests and climate protection in addition to the role of indigenous peoples. We moreover outline development of the REDD+ instrument within the scope of the international climate process.The second part of this brochure comprises a compilation of critical contributions to the concept and implementation of the first pilot projects, along with details of their impact on the local population.The third – and for us most important – part of this brochure is devoted to alternative concepts and approaches developed by indigenous communities and organisations. These have been presented at international conferences, such as the COP21 in Paris, and discussed with representatives from state and non-state stakeholders. Indigenous women from Peru also have their say: they have prepared a declaration on climate change from their perspective.

Indigenous rainforest territories vital to global climate deal

Press release in commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Frankfurt, 6 August 2015

Indigenous Peoples Day marked by calls for local forest stewardship

To mark this year’s International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, native leaders of the Amazon rainforest are reiterating a proposal that could lock in 96 gigatonnes of CO2 – equivalent to total global emissions in 2010, 2011 and 2012 combined. The scheme known as the Indigenous REDD+ or RIA is an approach to climate action based on the sustainable maintenance of indigenous rainforest territories in the Amazon Basin. Such territories amount to 2.4 million square km of rainforest, an area almost eight times the size of Italy. With little more than 100 days to go before UN Climate Talks in Paris, the RIA initiative is providing some much needed answers.

While the plan’s potential to lock in CO2 is striking, its promise goes far beyond global emissions benefits. “The RIA not only averts greenhouse gas emissions, it brings widespread social benefits through the protection and legal recognition of indigenous homelands while safeguarding the abundance of ecosystem services that forests provide,” underlines Thomas Brose, Executive Director of the Climate Alliance. The idea is simple: grant legal recognition to indigenous territories and support the inhabitants of the land in doing what they have been doing all along – taking care of their forest home. This straightforward plan helps safeguard both indigenous livelihoods and complex forest ecosystems, along with the regulation of nutrient, soil, weather, water cycles these ecosystems provide. As the plan is based on legal recognition of indigenous territories, it is also extremely cost-effective and requires little to no new infrastructure. “We have been practicing sustainable forestry for millennia – help us to go on doing so and save the planet in the process,” urges Jorge Furagaro of COICA, the umbrella organisation for the indigenous of Amazonia and key drafter of the scheme.

Of the 2.4 million square km of indigenous rainforest territories in the Amazon, some 1 million square km have yet to be officially recognised and an estimated 20 percent is at risk of being lost due to pressures including oil exploitation, infrastructure projects and large-scale industrial farming. These territories are not only home to entire populations, they are also of disproportional importance in the fight against climate change: a 2014 study entitled “Forest carbon in Amazonia,” points to the fact that over half of all carbon stored in the 9-nation area of the Amazon Basin is found in indigenous and protected areas, more than that stored in all the forests of the DR Congo and Indonesia combined.

The indigenous proposal, originally offered by COICA as a socially acceptable alternative the UN’s REDD programme, has received increasing support. Seven pilot projects in various South American countries are currently being rolled out. An example is a project in Peru’s Amarakaeri region, where boarder areas are being protected from mining and logging activities with financial support from Climate Alliance member city Rostock (Germany). The UN REDD, on the other hand, which is based on the idea of carbon offsets, has been criticised both for its narrow focus on emissions and its failure to address deforestation by infrastructure projects, large-scale agriculture and extractive industries.

Any serious global climate action plan cannot afford to ignore the massive amounts of carbon stored in the indigenous territories of the Amazonian rainforest. With 2015 having been named the European Year for Development and the new Sustainable Development Goals due this fall, momentum is building to embrace suggestions that see the indigenous as the best possible stewards of their own territories in the UN Climate Talks in Paris this December.

„Burn-out of forests for climate protection? Different interests of protection competing for forests as a resource and alternatives by indigenous peoples“

Friday, 12th June 2015 in Bonn: Conference organized by Climate Alliance in cooperation with INFOE-Institute for Ecology and Action Anthropology and the City of Bonn.

How can forest protection in the light of these often tense conflict situations succeed in Germany and globally? Taking into account this complexity with regard to forest management, what do we mean by ‚sustainability‘ at the various levels? What can we learn in this respect from indigenous peoples, who show, for example, through their approaches such as RIA (REDD + Indígena Amazónico) how five million hectares of rainforest in the Amazon region are protected by indigenous communities?We would like to discuss these questions together with representatives from indigenous peoples, with forest users, climate change negotiators, scientists, activists and others engaged and interested at our conference on 12th June in Bonn.

The conference will be simultaneously translated into German, English and Spanish. Participation is free of costs and please register under the following link: Online-Regristraion

COP20 Climate Alliance Side-Event: REDD and Beyond

REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Many developing and emerging countries have started engaging in REDD. Peru and other Latin American countries are no exception here - with an obivous motivation: a considerable part of their greenhouse gas emissions are currently caused by deforestation.

But how effective are these various instruments with regard to forest protection? How socially inclusive are they with respect to indigenous communities and other vulnerable forest users? And how fair are the proposed benefit-sharing mechanisms?

Guide to EuropeAid funding instruments 2014-2020

This report aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the instruments and programmes (both thematic and geographic) used by the European Union (EU) in its development cooperation.

It highlights the roles played by civil society in policy dialogue on these instruments and programmes, and in their implementation.

Press release on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 9 August 2014

Frankfurt am Main, 8 August 2014

Peru’s progress a step back for indigenous rightsExtractive industry leads to social injustice and destruction of the environment

Peru is a rich country. Rich in natural ecosystems, in incredible biological and cultural diversity, and in natural resources such as gold and silver in the Andean highlands and natural oil and gas in the Amazon region. Rich in people and countless different indigenous peoples. And yet this richness does not lead to the anticipated national progress or to a “good life” for all. Quite the contrary in fact: exploitation of the natural resources leads to social conflicts, to the violation of human and especially indigenous rights, to poverty, and to the destruction of the environment on an huge scale.

Criminal activity in the Andean highlands

Alarming news has reached us from Peru in recent days: Máxima Acuña Chaupe, an indigenous farmer from the northern Andean highlands, has been sentenced to a suspended sentence of almost three years and a fine of 1,000 US dollars this week. But what was her crime?

Máxima lives with her family on her farm on their land near Celendín in Cajamarca Province. The largest gold mine in Latin America, Yanacocha, is also located here. An extension of this is the controversial “Conga” project in the north-east of the country. Both gold and copper will be extracted here in an open-cast mine. The mining company, a consortium comprising Newmont, Buenaventura and the International Finance Corporation (World Bank), has been buying up the surrounding land for years now – in part despite fierce resistance from the rural population, for they lose their livelihoods. Máxima and her family do not want to sell their land. They are therefore threatened and attacked time and time again.

In August 2011, security officials from the mining company attempted to forcibly gain access to their farm with the help of the police. The family was beaten, driven out, and their possessions destroyed. They were accused of not being the rightful owners of the land. Máxima fought dispossession of her land, filed a complaint, and took the case to court.

On 5 August 2014, Máxima, her husband and two other members of her family were found guilty by a court in Celendín. They are accused of illegally occupying land owned by the Yanacocha mine. Her lawyer has launched an appeal.

Criminal activity in the Amazon region

In May and July of this year, a pipeline near the indigenous community of Cuninico in Loreto Province in the Peruvian Amazon region burst. Several square kilometres of rainforest were contaminated. The accident has not officially been confirmed by the national oil company Petroperú, nor has the local population been warned. A number of different Kukama communities dwelling along the Río Marañon and its tributaries are the victims: the water and soil is contaminated, dead fish are floating in the rivers, and animals are dying in the oil. A state of emergency has been called in parts of the region. The indigenous peoples have received barely any support, and young men are being recruited as day labourers to work without protective clothing to clear the crude oil that has leaked out.

During Climate Alliance’s delegation trip to Peru in June 2014 (see Climate Alliance’s press release of 12 June 2014), the participants were able to witness the consequences of our consumption of raw materials for themselves first-hand. A meeting with Máxima Chaupe, who shared her story, proved very moving for all. In the Amazon region, the delegation visited the “Dos de Mayo” Kukama community, who reported on the impact of oil exploitation and the latest incidents. The European delegation expressed their solidarity for the protest camp of different indigenous community representatives on a main square in Iquitos. They are calling on the Peruvian government to hear their appeal and to instigate a strategy to resolve the environmental disaster.

Holger Matthäus, Senator for Construction & Environment from the Hanseatic city of Rostock and a member of the Climate Alliance board, who participated in this year’s delegation trip, said: “Nowhere are human and environmental rights as inherently linked as they are here for the indigenous peoples. The German government must ensure it consistently adheres to the European standards in implementation of the Peruvian-German agreement on the joint exploitation of natural resources signed in July 2014!”

Human rights and environmental organisations criticise this agreement. The mechanisms for respecting human rights agreed therein are extremely vague. While there are many legal provisions in Peru for the protection of the environment and human rights – Peru is a signatory of Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO 169), among others agreements – these are not always enforced. The United Nation’s motto for this year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is thus “Bridging the gap: implementing the rights of indigenous peoples” in recognition of the fact that it is not merely a question of improving the legal framework for indigenous peoples but above all of ensuring that their rights are implemented and enforced. Holger Matthäus: “As an alliance partner for the indigenous peoples, Climate Alliance is on hand to advise as well as to monitor.”

International delegation analyzes social and environmental impacts of extractive industries in Peru

Last June, an international delegation led by Climate Alliance Luxembourg and Climate Alliance-European Secretariat traveled around Peru on an 11-day study tour, to study the social and environmental impacts of the extractive industries (gold mining, oil, etc.) in Peru. The delegation was made up of 13 members coming from Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Brazil, that belonged to diverse sectors such as national and municipal politics, academia, media and civil society organizations...

The COICA together with Climate Alliance and other organisations invites to a Side Event of the "Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 40)" in Bonn. Friday,June 6th, 2014 from 13.15 to 14.45 o'clock the event will take place at the Gustav-­Stresemann-­Institut, Langer Grabenweg 68 in Bonn. One of the present speakers is the new Vice-President of Climate Alliance, Jorge Furagaro. The topic of the event is REDD+ "Amazon Indigenous Redd+ (RIA): Jurisdictional Progress and the road to COP20". You are all very welcome!

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz begins as new Special Rapporteur

Today Victoria Tauli-Corpuz assumes her responsibilities as the new Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, replacing Professor James Anaya. Once again Professor Anaya congratulates Ms. Tauli-Corpuz and wishes her success.

2nd Amazonia Conference and COICA Congress

From 13 – 15 December 2013 the 2nd Amazonia Conference of COICA (Coordinating Body for the Indigenous Peoples Organisations of the Amazon Basin) took place in the Colombian city of Villavicencio near the capital Bogota. The objective of this big event was to discuss threats and to find common positions on major issues. Participants were indigenous representatives from the nine countries bordering the Amazon as well as guests from governmental and non-governmental institutions. The conference continued the 1st Amazonia Conference, which was held in Manaus, Brazil, 2011.

A central topic in Colombia was the threat of Amazonia by large infrastructure projects that will be implemented within the framework of IIRSA. IIRSA is the abbreviation for the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure in South America, an ambitious plan to expand the infrastructure in South America, especially into the direction of the Pacific. Professor Carlos Goncalves from the University of Rio de Janeiro presented how this initiative is part of the global geo-strategic transformation process since 2000. With the shift of the geo-political centre from the Atlantic (USA, Europe) to the Pacific (Asia, especially China), IIRSA serves to adapt to these changes. The future infrastructure, especially in Brazil, which has so far been aligned as a major power in South America mainly to the Atlantic, will extend into the direction of the Pacific. So already quite a few roads have emerged that have been extended from Brazil via Peru or Bolivia to the Pacific. But IIRSA also includes a number of dams (such as the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in Brazil) and other infrastructure projects.

Further topics of the conference were the development and implementation of the indigenous REDD approach (REDD stands for an instrument of the international climate process which should reduce the emissions from forest destruction). However, also alternative approaches have been discussed and the question how indigenous concepts can help to change the economic paradigm (especially the economy with its focus on more and more growth). Thomas Brose, Director of Climate Alliance, was invited to the Conference and presented the work of Climate Alliance and the cooperation with indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin.

Following the Conference the IXth Congress of COICA took place, which is organised every four years. General Coordinator Edwin Vásquez presented the work of COICA in the past four years and reported on successes and challenges. An important point was the emphasis on the importance of the partnership with Climate Alliance. In addition, the congress also discussed political, economic and structural issues of COICA.

New Steering Council elected

On the last day of the Congress a new Steering Council was elected for the next four years:

Edwin Vásquez of the AIDESEP in Peru was confirmed as General Coordinator.

Jocelyn Therese of the FOAG in French Guiana was elected as Vice Coordinator.

The new Area Coordinator for Climate and Biodiversity is Jorge Furagaro of the OPIAC in Columbia. Therefore Jorge Furagaro succeeds Diego Escobar also as representative of COICA in the Executive Board of Climate Alliance.

Nelly Romero of the CIDOB in Bolivia was elected as Area Coordinator for International Affairs and Cooperation.

The new Area Coordinator for Territories and Natural Resources is Guillermo Arana of the ORPIA in Venezuela.

Josien Tokoe of the OIS in Surinam was elected as Area Coordinator for Gender, Women and Family.

Michael McGarral of the APA in Guyana was elected as Area Coordinator for Policy and Human Rights.

For the Area Coordination for Education, Science and Technology as well as for Communication and Health no candidates have been nominated and therefore were not filled.

“We Stand in Solidarity with Fundación Pachamama in Ecuador”

Statement of Ecuadorian and international organisations:

On the morning of December 4th, 2013, the Quito-based headquarters of the internationally recognized organization Fundación Pachamama were raided and closed down by police agents, who presented a resolution of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment dissolving the organization.

We agree with Fundación Pachamama’s position that this dissolution is an arbitrary act, looking to repress the organization’s legitimate right to dissent against the national government’s decision to hand over the territories of Amazonian indigenous peoples via concessions to oil companies, without respecting those peoples’ constitutional rights, in particular their right to free, prior, and informed consultation and consent, in agreement with international human rights law.

Fundación Pachamama’s position has always been based in the defense of human rights and the rights of nature, all of this carried out in actions within the rule of law. For the last sixteen years they have offered solidarity and assistance to the indigenous organizations that legitimately represent the ancestral peoples of the Amazon.

As a matter of principle and institutional nature, Fundación Pachamama rejects any violent actions coming from any sector. In our experience, the Foundation has never supported or much less participated in violent actions. Such violence cannot be imputed upon them for acts they did not commit.

Given their work in defense of rights, they have been publicly and viciously attacked by those who hold political power in Ecuador, accusations that have been broadly disseminated through state-run media. We view this as violent, in addition to hastily dissolving an organization, without any legal justification, without a due process that would guarantee legitimate defense.

Responding to this aggression, we express our support for Fundación Pachamama while they:

1. Don’t renounce their right to defend rights; and

2. Challenge the government’s decision through all the legal means at their disposal.

We will continue supporting Fundación Pachamama while they guarantee that this aggression, to which they are victims, doesn’t distract attention and debate from the core issue which is the violation of Amazonian indigenous peoples’ collective rights and the rights of nature, by means of an oil tender carried out against the will of the legitimate property holders of the affected territories, through a ‘socialization process’, not a real consultation.

It’s time to reinstate Fundación Pachamama and end the repression against civil society and indigenous peoples in Ecuador.

Successes for the indigenous peoples in Bolivia and Peru!

Bolivia's President Evo Morales has scrapped plans for a road project in the Amazon that had triggered protests by indigenous people. Morales said the road would no longer go through the rainforest reserve TIPNIS (Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory). He made the announcement two days after protesters arrived in La Paz following a two-monthmarch from the Amazon lowlands to voice their opposition. The president said he would send a measure to Congress that would accommodate the protesters' demands.

In September 2011 Peru’s Congress unanimously approved a ‘historic’ new law thatguarantees indigenous people’s right to free, prior and informed consent to any projects affecting them and their lands. President Ollanta Humala says he supports consultation. It is a significant step away from the policies of former Peruvian President Alan Garcia, who vetoed a similar bill. Amazon indigenous organisation AIDESEP has welcomed the government’s decision, but warned this is just the first step to ensure indigenous rights are guaranteed.

Manaus Mandate

Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon BasinAIDESEP-APA-CIDOB-COIAB- CONFENAIE-FOAG- OIS- OPIAC-ORPIAFirst Amazon Regional Summit of Ancestral Knowledge, Peoples and fulfilling life in harmony with forests(15 – 18 August 2011)"We are people without Owner, Like Life"Mandate Manaus: Indigenous Action for LifeMeeting in Manaus 15 to August 18, 2011, in 1. Regional Amazon summit, the Amazonian indigenous peoples and national organizations from nine countries: Bolivia (CIDOB), Brazil (COIAB), Ecuador (CONFENIAE), Colombia (OPIAC), Guyana (APA), French Guyana (FOAG), Peru (AIDESEP ), Venezuela (ORPIA) and Suriname (OIS) and in dialogue with various social partners, state and environmental observe that the climatic and environmental crisis is very serious, very soon irreversible, while global and national powers, they can not want to stop, and worse, trying to "seize" more "green business" but threaten all forms of life.We warn the world that we have passed the limits of danger of polluting gases in the atmosphere and global warming, but that's just one of the most serious effects of deeper causes. We are in dark times of profound global climate crisis and aggression that is part of the wider crisis of a civilization and a pattern of power, based on racism, patriarchy, individualism and unbridled consumerism, commodification and privatization of everything, and the reckless arrogance of "domination" of nature are forgetting that only a small part of it.We denounce the hypocrisy and contradiction in the global and national policies on forests, where the side of declarations, plans, small projects "sustainable" deepens predation, deforestation, degradation by mining business, oil, hydroelectric mega, ranching , soy, agribusiness, "agro-fuels" super highways of colonization, GM, pesticides, overlay of protected areas in indigenous territories, biopiracy and theft of traditional knowledge. Continuing need to improve forestry practices, it covers the best of these is profoundly change the macro policies of neoliberal globalization.We propose the following objectives, approaches, alternatives and actions:1. Territories whole life for planetary cooling.There is evidence that refuges of life, are the forests and Amazonian peoples' territories as effective barriers to predation. It is therefore essential to change laws and public policies to ensure the demarcation of the territories of the indigenous Amazonian people and collective ownership as peoples, and also to support and not attack or marginalized, our strategies of "whole life" separate from the commodification of nature. This is an effective and efficient strategy to reduce global warming and restore harmony with Mother Earth, we had thousands of years. To not change the weather, change the system. It's the system must "adapt" to the cries of Mother Nature and our children of color of the earth. The "cost" financing to solve this historic debt originated in ethnocide of colonization, it is far less than that devoted to discussions and experiments ineffective.2. Strengthen "Redd + Indian" ecological debtors and their pollutionTo those who decide on the process, "Redd +": the United FCPF (WB-IDB), FIP, UN-REDD, UNFCCC COP17-, Rio +20 and others demand immediate assurances and conditions for the Peoples before further progress in these REDD + processes to be properly addressed:• Respect and strengthen the proposed REDD + Indian or adequacy of the Redd + to the worldviews and collective rights of peoples, including the "Guidelines COICA on climate change and Redd +" and the proposals of the national organizations, and among other things the following:No Territories or collective rights is unworkable Redd + * No contract community to run international rules, or the long term, giving land management or intellectual property, with more hardships than benefits, or in languages and foreign laws * Respect and support conservation holistic forest, not just where deforestation or reducing tons of carbon * Respect our proposed national regulations for Redd + and consultation and free, prior and binding * Respect reports COICA on REDD + parallel to the States * Mechanisms for resolving conflicts with guarantees of neutrality and efficiency * not support the market for carbon credits to cover the global polluters.• Priority policies and funds for consolidation and land titling of indigenous peoples as a condition prior to move unimpeded on Redd +• National legislative changes to strengthen collective rights in the laws of environmental services, forestry, "Redd + leakage" (mining, hydrocarbons, biofuels, etc) and consultation and consent,• States and Banks assume their responsibility to curb the spread of scammers Redd + ("carbon cowboys," "bubble Redd +") by: * Registration and accreditation of international public operators Redd + * Rejection of companies and NGOs scam reported by * Recommend indigenous communities are not committing to contracts "to Redd +" or "carbon business" until the international and national regulations are specified and implemented.• Priority of reducing pollution by greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by industrialized ecological debtors the power of rich minorities in the North and South3. Unity between ancestral and Survival of BiodiversityOur ancient knowledge are intimately linked in the "productive conservation" of nature, and in that way, compared to the COP 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Congress of the International Union of Nature (IUCN) called for will support the following proposals:• Prioritize the demarcation and legalization and legal security of indigenous lands as collateral for the conservation of biodiversity and genetic resources and ancestral knowledge.• Consolidate the Law Prior Consultation and Consent, Binding, prior and informed consent for access to genetic resources in indigenous territories and associated traditional knowledge.• The genetic resources of indigenous territories and ancestral knowledge constitute the collective intellectual heritage and indigenous natural, preserved for millennia and passed down from generation to generation.• Access to the ancestral knowledge and genetic resources should provide for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits, including the products of both genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.• The ancient knowledge are not in the public domain, but in the cultural field of indigenous peoples and states and international organizations (such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD), adopted sui generis legal standards of legal protection of this knowledge ancestors.• No marketing of ancestral knowledge and misuse and unauthorized for biotech patent claims.4. Rio +20: Solutions for Life not for MarketsThe UN conference in June 2012 Rio de Janeiro is one of the last chances to save all life forms on the planet. Amazonian peoples to make call-Political Cultural Events in the vicinity of the official summit, leaders of people and movements, artists, scientists, intellectuals, who win public opinion and global politics. Likewise, policy intervention strategies within and outside Rio +20 Summit of peoples and building a plural and democratic, with broad public visibility. All to gain broader political support for the UN will not submit to the interests of irresponsible game of power, and advance approaches, objectives and proposals such as:• Do not accept that the "Green Economy" is the combination of neoliberalism developed with "green projects" but a profound change in reducing consumption, waste and predation and the changing pattern of production, consumption, distribution and energy (oil, biofuels) alternatives harmony among societies, cultures and nature.• Renovation of the Kyoto protocol, where there are firm commitments and requirements, reduction of greenhouse emissions and opportunities for participation by indigenous peoples. Do not let the world drift with powers to impose terms, how and when they reduce their emissions.• Consolidation of the Indigenous Peoples' land and Visions of Life Full of holistic management of nature for the "cooling" of the planet by increasing the quality of public funds to implement such global and titling.• Establishment of an International Environmental Court, the pressing operation, independent of the global powers, with spaces for indigenous participation, the most affected by environmental crime.• Reorganize the current UN environmental agencies not to bow to the powers pollutants, to overcome the bureaucracy and expanding opportunities for participation and advocacy for indigenous Amazonian people and the world.

Finally, the Summit raised position the media as a line of political action, not just instrumental.To influence public policies on access to media and use of information and communication technologies and implement the proposed network of Amazon communities COICAIndigenous peoples and the nature we're alone, and therefore we are obliged to keep the forests standing, reduce deforestation and to be guardians of their services such as water, biodiversity, climate for the survival of life. We only ask that they let us work in peace in our mission.No more "Belomonstruos" in Brazil, Guyana, Peru (Marañón, Pakitzapango), Bolivia and the world!Not just above the Rio +20 Death and Life of Peoples of the Xingu!Not on the road in Indian Isiboro Secure in Bolivia. Evo Brother defends the people and not the business of the BNDES!Stop the destruction of oil in Ecuador (Yasuni), Peru (DATEM) and other countries!No impositions IIRSA, as the Manta-Manaus multimodal hub that will destroy the Napo River!Action and Solidarity with the struggles of indigenous peoples of Amazonia and the world!Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana to ratify Convention 169!Amazonian indigenous peoples, walking on the trail of our ancestors, we ask the world to open their hearts and dreams and join in the sessions for Life for All

Crowdfunding: Indigenous football team from the community of Sarayaku, Ecuador seeks funding

The footballers of the Ecuadorian “Club Deportivo Sarayaku” have been raising awareness for the sustainable management of their forests through football. Now in the region’s professional championship league, the team is currently seeking financing for both the team and especially its message of preserving the Kawsak Sacha, the concept of “Living forest”, via crowdfunding

SAD detected 95 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in December 2014. That represented a 70% increase in relation to December 2013 when deforestation totaled 56 square kilometers.

No deforestation was detected in Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands!

Previous studies commissioned by the EU have shown that the EU has been leading the world in imports of ‘embodied deforestation’ in the form of agricultural and timber products. This study goes a step further, by showing that the EU is also one of the largest importers of products resulting from illegal deforestation.

Press release on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 9 August 2014

Peru’s progress a step back for indigenous rights - Extractive industry leads to social injustice and destruction of the Environment